Darren Star Remembers Getting Backlash After Dylan and Brenda Had Sex on an Episode ofBeverly Hills, 90210

Mar. 15, 2025

Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry.

BeforeSex and the CityorEmily in Paris,Darren Starfirst made a name for himself withBeverly Hills, 90210.

The show “was the biggest long shot ever,” he toldVulturein an interview published on Aug. 14., as “no one had written a show about teenagers from a teenage point of view.”

While the show would go on to be a hit for Fox — launching the careers of actors likeShannen Doherty,Jennie Garth,Luke PerryandTori Spelling— over the first year, Star remembers being “always on the verge of cancellation.”

“I remember Aaron talking to the network, saying, ‘Just give us three more episodes.’ He was a fighter for the show,” he recalls of producerAaron Spelling.“It limped along until the reruns started to do better. Then it came back in the summer and caught fire.”

Darren Star in 2022.Jamie McCarthy/Getty

As the show was gaining traction, it also received pushback from the network, he remembers, especially when it came to portraying the characters’ sexuality on screen.

“They had a lot of notes. Everything about sexuality was hard to deal with,” he told the outlet. “Initially, they were like, ‘Where are the parents? Where are the teachers?’ And I’m like, it’s not a show about parents and teachers. It’s a show about these friends who were there for each other, solving each other’s problems.”

Toward the end of season 1, Star wrote and directed an episode that saw Doherty’s character Brenda Walsh and Perry’s character Dylan McKay have sex after their junior prom. After the episode aired on some of the network’s affiliates, feathers began to ruffle.

“When all these affiliates realized what they’d aired, a lot of them got bent out of shape. And it wasn’t just the fact that Brenda had sex but that she enjoyed it,” he said.  “When we came back for the next season, they demanded there was an episode where she had remorse. I was like, ‘I can’t believe I have to write this.’ She had a pregnancy scare. She realized she was too young to have sex.”

Star added that while that was the episode that caught so much flack, there were “a lot of edgier” episodes that flew under the radar.

Reps for Fox did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Ian Ziering, Tori Spelling, Shannen Doherty, Brian Austin Green, Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Gabrielle Carteris and Luke Perry from ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’.Mark Sennet/Getty Images

Mark Sennet/Getty Images

Of working with Doherty, whodied on July 13, 2024,  Star said “what she brought inspired me to write toward Brenda even more.”

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He added: “She was herself an independent spirit who felt everything deeply. She captured something about being a teenage girl who really was a powerful girl.”

After playing Brenda for four seasons, Doherty left the show in 1994 though later reprised the role with several guest appearances on the 2008 reboot90210.

source: people.com